Tag: God’s Wife
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Alexandria’s Winter Queen: The Untamed Life and Death of Arsinoë IV (Part 2)
Okay, folks, this week we are back with my girl Arsinoë and her insane family for Round Two of their shenanigans! When we last let our Ptolemies, they were standing over the headless remains of Pompey Magnus and awaiting the arrival of his rival/martial antagonist/ex-father-in-law/frenemy—namely, one Gaius Julius Caesar. Now, by this point, roughly 48…
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Alexandria’s Winter Queen: The Untamed Life and Death of Arsinoë IV (Part 1)
When I was doing my circle back to talking about the most important God’s Wife setting, Ombos, last summer, I was aware that I had left an even larger series stone unturned here. One that is particularly egregious considering that three of my six leading ladies are historical figures, and I have long ago done…
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More Midcentury(ish) Roman Historical Fiction: John Williams’ Augustus and Evelyn Waugh’s Helena
Because I thought that with Daughter of Scorpions’ publication this spring, I was finally leaving the historical ancient Mediterranean behind (…we’ll see—I’ve been having intrusive thoughts recently about a fifth God’s Wife book…), I’ve been reading a bunch of other people’s Rome-adjacent novels. In February, we talked about two of them, Thornton Wilder’s The Ides…
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More Non-Standard Tips and Tricks for Writing Memorable Characters
Since it’s been nearly ten months since my last writing craft-focused entry, I thought we’d do another little dive into that arena—specifically looking at how to write deep, fully-formed characters that your readers can connect with. I know I tend to focus a lot on character when I talk about writing, but I find, in…
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Home By Any Other Name: The Multifaceted History of Ombos
“Once upon a time, there were larger, more elegant cities here, though now it was just one of many out-of-the-way places that dipped their feet in the river’s edge. Tombs from before even the Egyptians’ long memories begin dotted the surrounding desert, ones of massive scale said to be made when the gods were young…
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Truth and the Divine: The Roman Imperial Cult
I had promised more Daughter of Scorpions content, and I confess that I was briefly at a loss for topics we hadn’t already discussed during the other God’s Wife releases, until I realized we’ve never really specifically talked about something that is a major hinge in this story—mainly, the Roman imperial cult. So I thought…
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History’s Henchman: The Rise and Fall of Lucius Aelius Sejanus
“Sejanus was feared, loathed, despised, and loved…at times disarming and amiable, always efficient and reliable, but arrogant and cruel when they occasion demanded.” – Sejanus: Regent of Rome (John S. McHugh), p. 16 “He’s a Caesar with no mercy and a Sulla with no restraint.” – Daughter of Scorpions, Chapter 29 Okay, two weeks ago…
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Release Day for DAUGHTER OF SCORPIONS
Gods defend us, dear readers, we have (finally!) reached release day for my sixth book, and fourth God’s Wife novel, Daughter of Scorpions! I’m so excited for all of you to (re)meet my girl Zosime as she unravels another deadly plot against Rome with the help of both some familiar faces and some new allies.…
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Publication Announcement for DAUGHTER OF SCORPIONS and Ebook Sale!
Howdy folks, I know that I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks, but I’ve been getting the last proofs and minutiae ready for the next book, and I am delighted to announce that my fourth God’s Wife novel, Daughter of Scorpions, is wrapped up and arriving at the internet storefront of your choice MAY…
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American Authors in the First Millennium: Zora Neale Hurston’s The Life of Herod the Great and Thornton Wilder’s The Ides of March
While it’s hard to ever call historical fiction set in the Roman period passé, I do sometimes feel like I’m out here on an island, as it seems most of the current genre zeitgeist is for almost entirely 20th century historical fiction, with a few forays into midcentury Victorian. But as I’m pretty much never…
Sarah Holz 